Best Practices Checklist for Securing Your VoIP Phone System

Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) phone systems have become an essential communication tool for businesses of all sizes. However, they are also vulnerable to cyber threats. In order to keep your VoIP security, wallet, and reputation protected from bad actors on the internet, it’s important to implement the following 12 best practices:

1. Secure User Credentials with a Strong Password and Two-Factor Authentication: Use strong passwords and two-factor authentication to prevent unauthorized access to your phone system.
2. Perform Regular Call Log Reviews: Regularly review your call logs to identify unusual call activity and investigate any outliers that may indicate that your system has been compromised.
3. Disable International Calling or Enable Geo-Fencing: To prevent toll fraud, consider disabling international calling or implementing geo-fencing to block unwanted calls from specific countries or phone numbers.
4. Utilize SaaS for VoIP Calls: Consider outsourcing your VoIP infrastructure to a Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) provider who can provide robust features, a user-friendly interface, and built-in security measures to protect your account from fraudulent activity.
5. Stay Up to Date on Security Patches: Ensure that your VoIP phones are running the latest firmware updates to fix any security vulnerabilities.
6. Use a Router with a Firewall: Always use a router with a firewall to block suspicious traffic and prevent unauthorized access to your phone system.
7. Limit Physical Access to Networking Equipment: Store your networking equipment in a locked room or cabinet to prevent unauthorized access, and implement security cameras and access logs to monitor access.
8. Restrict User Permissions: Limit user access to the phone system to prevent unauthorized configuration changes and potential security breaches.
9. Ensure Data Encryption: Partner with a VoIP provider that uses end-to-end encryption to protect your call processing data from being intercepted by hackers.
10. Educate Users: Train your users on best practices for securing their user credentials, identifying fraudulent activity, and preventing the disclosure of sensitive information during calls.
11. Prevent Ghost Calls: Use the setting on your IP phone that only allows incoming calls from the server it is connected to, to prevent ghost calls caused by port scanning.
12. Implement Intrusion Prevention Systems: Use intrusion prevention systems to detect abnormal activity and protect your network from distributed denial-of-service attacks.

By implementing these best practices, you can ensure that your VoIP phone system is secure, reliable, and protected from cyber threats. At TSC VoIP, we currently offer a full complement of VoIP and UCaaS services. We are also pleased to offer no-cost, no-obligation quotes for business class phone systems and service. Contact us today to learn more about how we can help your business!